"Public Charge" Rules HALTED by Federal Court; Keep Contacting Congress to #BoostSNAPNow

July is quickly coming to an end. We have important news and action steps, and our next SNAP Coalition meeting is August 4th.

Public charge rules halted!

Yesterday afternoon, a U.S. District Court judge blocked the public charge rule nationwide and issued a new temporary injunction against the Dept. of Homeland Security's "Public Charge" rule. MLRI will be updating our materials as soon as we get further guidance from our immigration experts. We will also discuss this issue at our August 4th SNAP Coalition Zoom meeting.

Below is an alert from the national Protecting Immigrant Famlies (PIF) campaign co-chairs. The court order bars the implementation, application, and enforcement of the rule nationwide so long as there is a declared national emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic. See this Buzzfeed news article for more. [1] and see the press release link below from PIF.

Food pantries and photo IDs

We've posted the four letters [2]the state sent to the four MA food banks. alerting them that food pantries that receive the state or federal emergency food assistance (TEFAP and MEFAP) cannot impose photo ID or, SSN requirement, nor proof of income from households seeking emergency food. The food banks have been alerting their partner agencies. Please keep MLRI posted of any problems you become aware of.

Keep up the drum roll on #BoostSNAPnow with Congress

Congress must not leave DC without a robust COVID-10 package that includes funding for SNAP. Senate Leader McConnell’s COVID-19 proposal falls way short of investments needed to address food and economic hardship. Please continue to communicate with the MA Delegation - as well as Governor Baker - to get Congress to include the 15% SNAP boost in the next COVID-19 package. Governor Baker's voice along with other Governors is critical here.

Here are some resources you can use:

FRAC's Action steps on it's COVID-19 webpage [3], including media statements on the Senate's proposal, the letter signed by 2,500 orgs, an analysis of the HEROES Act and more.
See the July 30th statement [4] of Jerry Hagstrom (of the influential Hagstrom Report),re the critical need for boosting SNAP and the economic stimulus.
The Urban Institute's report: 2020 Poverty Projections: Assessing Three Pandemic-Aid Policies [5], (assesses the three top provisions contained in the HEROES Act including another stimulus payment, continuing the $600/week pandemic unemployment and the 15% boost in SNAP).
And use this image in your social media.

REMINDER: Next SNAP Coalition Zoom Meeting, Tuesday August 4th from 10 to 11:30 AM. Agenda will include update on federal efforts for a robust COVID-19 pkg; public charge, outreach to households losing $600/week unemployment, state SNAP updates,

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Co Chairs of the Protecting Immigrant Families Campaign <co-chairs@protectingimmigrantfamilies.org [6]>
Date: Wed, Jul 29, 2020 at 8:08 PM
Subject: Public Charge Rules HALTED!!!

BREAKING: Public Charge Rules HALTED!!!

Dear Allies,

We’re writing to share some exciting breaking news [7]! Today, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a new temporary injunction against the DHS Public Charge rule [8]. The order bars the implementation, application, and enforcement of the rule nationwide so long as there is a declared national emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The court also issued a nationwide preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the DOS Public Charge rule [9] and Health Insurance Proclamation [10], the first decision fully addressing these policies at DOS, and it enjoined those policies indefinitely, beyond the national emergency related to the pandemic.

Please see the following press releases from our litigation partners [11] and from the co-chairs of the PIF Campaign [12].

What’s Next?

We are still working through what the impact of this decision may be in the long term. However, we anticipate that the federal government will continue to push to overturn the preliminary injunction. Stay tuned for more updates from the Campaign. We will follow up with more resources, but below are some topline talking points:

As long as the New York district court’s injunction remains in place, the public charge rule continues to be blocked nationwide.
We ask immigrant families to get the facts — the Trump administration wants you to be afraid, but with the right information, you can make the best choice for your family.

Thank you for your continued partnership!

Madison Allen (CLASP)
Connie Choi & Jenny Rejeske (NILC)

Visit us at https://protectingimmigrantfamilies.org/ [13]

Copyright © 2020 Protecting Immigrant Families, Advancing Our Future, All rights reserved.
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